Halfway into 2016, it is clear that we are living in a new era of innovation. Beyond Silicon Valley, corporations and startup hubs worldwide are tackling big problems like water scarcity and cancer. The concept of the “next big thing” is becoming redundant because breakthroughs have become normal.

Failure is a part of life and as a resilient entrepreneur, you probably understand that better than anyone. But startup failure is a different story because watching a business you have poured your heart and soul into collapse is devastating or even debilitating.

Someone secretly wise told me that ‘eternity’ can be contained in a single moment, if that moment is powerful enough. It can take an entire lifetime or a single moment to understand your purpose. Some people die without ever finding it. Others affect the entire universe with theirs.

After the devastating earthquakes of April and May 2015, I traveled across Nepal, coordinating relief work in remote villages. In the Sindhupalchok district, one of the most devastated areas, I met Manju. She is around 11 or 12 years old with an intelligent demeanor, fierce brown eyes, rough hands and dwindling hope.

After visiting his first nightclub, 18-year-old Scott Harrison was hooked. Soon enough, partying and getting wasted became the norm. Over the next 10 years, Scott became a nightclub owner, earned thousands per month simply for promoting alcohol and hosting parties, and supposedly got “addicted to everything short of heroin”.

“I have never been happier,” said the seventy-year-old man with cheeks more wrinkled than a raisin, turning my world upside down and making my heart jump painfully. How could anyone be happy after losing everything they owned: their life’s work, their ancestral home, their animals on whom they relied above all else?